Energy crisis a ‘huge concern’ for Australians: Roy Morgan

The ‘energy crisis’ in Australia is the single biggest issue facing the country, according to new Roy Morgan Research analysis.

The in-depth research, exploring the concerns of 595 Australians, has revealed the country is most worried about the environment and war and terrorism as major world problems, but at home, the biggest concern is the energy crisis.

Economic issues including unemployment, housing affordability, the economy in general, poverty and the gap between the rich and poor were mentioned by 29 per cent of Australians as the most important problems facing Australia, while a further 15 per cent of respondents mentioned concerns related to energy.

When looking at analysis on a global scale, the largest theme to emerge was about concerns related to the environment, mentioned by more than 26 per cent of Australians – and in particular the issue of global warming and climate change.

Single issue analysis of the responses shows the specific issue of greatest concern for Australia is the current energy crisis mentioned by more than 14 per cent of Australians.

This is more than any other single issue.

The next two most often mentioned single issues were climate change and global warming (9 per cent) and unemployment (8 per cent).

“The economy has dominated discussion in Australia for a long time and this is no different late in 2017 with 29 per cent of Australians naming an economic issue as the biggest problem facing Australia,” Roy Morgan Research CEO Michele Levine said.

“However, it is the sharp increase in respondents mentioning an energy-related issue as the biggest problem facing Australia that should be a major concern for the Federal Government and several state governments facing elections in the next 12 months – now mentioned by more than 15 per cent of respondents up a large 11 per cent since the last ‘issues’ survey Roy Morgan conducted in mid-2017.”

Respondents were asked: “What do you think is the most important problem facing the world today?” and “What do you think is the most important problem facing Australia today?” 

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